GST Council May Examine Textile Sector Concerns At August 5 Meet, Hints Official

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GST Council May Examine Textile Sector Concerns At August 5 Meet, Hints Official

The Goods & Services Tax Council is likely to examine taxation issues raised by various textile sector bodies along with a review of the implementation of the new tax regime, a top bureaucrat said in New Delhi recently.

Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) Chairperson Vanaja Sarna said on the sidelines of an industry function that all issues will be discussed at the next GST Council meeting to be held on August 5. There could even be discussions about the rates of GST, she stated.

The GST Council is chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as well as his counterparts from state governments. GST is a uniform tax structure that replaces 17 different levies, including excise, service tax and VAT.

However, textile traders across India have been seeking removal of the 5% GST on fabric and Surat-based traders, who had gone on strike in protest recently, called it off a few days ago in the hope that the August 5 GST Council Meet will address their concerns.

The CBEC official also stated that her department is tracking revenue trends after GST was rolled out on July 1, but the actual position will be known only after returns are filed in September.

Meanwhile, the government has also constituted a Central Monitoring Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary to monitor the impact of GST.

Three meetings of the Central Monitoring Committee were held on July 2, July 11 and July 18 and reports have been filed, based on feedback from various ministries as well as department.

Additionally, the government vide DoPT OM dated 4th July 4 and July 6 [F.NO.36/30/2017-EO(SM I)] has appointed 209 joint/additional secretary level officers to monitor implementation and effects of GST across the country through district level clusters and submit weekly reports.

A nodal feedback centre called the Feedback & Action Room has been set up under the Union Ministry of Finance to collect, collate and analyse the feedback being received from district level nodal officers, according to a written reply to a question raised in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar.

The Feedback and Action Room will not only review information, calls, media inputs, feedback from ministries, state governments, field formations, social media and news channels, but also reply to queries from taxpayers as well as tax officials.

The minister stated that internet is not required for conducting business, and it would be required only for the purpose of filing of returns under GST. The government has ensured that the return filing process is convenient to taxpayers by setting up help desks in every tax commissionerate and appointing GST Suvidha providers, the minister stated.